Donations

Alpine Credit Union is turning away donations.
Please send/deliver them to Westmore Elementary (1150 S Main, Orem, UT 84058) or to UCCU using the Keuster's name. Thanks so much!

Sizes for kids clothing

Here are the sizes of the parents and children for your reference as well:

* Rick (Father): wears a 2XL shirt, 42 X 30 jeans and a size 13 shoe.
* Jennifer (Mother): wears a 26-28 shirt, 26 pants and a size 9 shoe.
* Ausha (16), female: wears a 22-24 shirt, 24 pants and a size 10 shoe. She likes drawing, alternative music and stuffed animals.
* Robin (13), female: wears a 18-20 shirt, 16 pants and a size 10 shoe. She likes drawing and board games.
* Eric (11), male: wears a size L shirt, 34 pants and a size 8 (Mens) shoe. He likes video games and Bakguan.
* Alex (6), male: wears a size 5 shirt, 4T pants and a size 4 shoe. He likes video games and Bakguan.
* Rebecca (4), female: wears a size 3T shirt, 3T pants and a size 12 shoe. She like Barbies.

Donation

There is also an account being set up at Alpine Credit Union for those who would like to make donations to the family directly. We will forward that information as soon as the account is set up.

Family List

Rick (Father)
Jennifer (Mother)
Ausha - 16 (Girl)
Robyn - 13 (Girl)
Eric - 11 (Boy)
Alex - 6 (Boy)
Rebecca - 4 (Girl)

Christmas

There is an effort to help this family try to have a Merry Christmas amongst these horrible events. A "sub for santa" of sorts. If you would like to be involved, please send your email address to lushstudio212@gmail.com or call Talia @ (801) 360-6891

We will add you to the google document list where you can view children's names, sizes and what others have already committed to. We will try to keep this organized and not duplicate efforts and gifts through this document. Unfortunately, the home was a complete loss so the family will be starting over with next to nothing so anything and everything will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks to everyone who has already committed to helping! The requests to help have been overwhelming and very appreciated. We will plan on delivering all gifts on Christmas Eve to the grandparents home which is next door to the home that burnt down. (155 E. 800 South, Orem.) Any and all would be welcome to come and we will carol a few songs at the same time. If you will be unavailable on Christmas Eve, you could drop off any items to the Hudson home at 712 S. 65 W. in Orem and we will deliver those Christmas Eve.

Thanks again and we look forward to helping this family in a time of need and especially around Christmas time. We can only think of the scripture "Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it to me".

Kuester Family Update

We have spoken with members of the family this morning. They have informed us that the American Red Cross has put the family up in a hotel through the weekend. A member of our stake has a home they are doing a short sale on that apparantly will be available to the Kuester family for at least a few months until their home is re-built.

"Heart to Home" Foundation will be rebuilding the home and if anyone is interested and has capability to help in this construction process, please contact Greg Adamson (801)722-5202 or email him at: gregadamsonhomes@gmail.com

Kuester Family

http://www.firehouse.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1123862

OREM -- A family of seven was displaced Wednesday after their home caught fire in Orem.

Rick Kuester said he and his wife were working as crossing guards, helping kindergarteners to cross to and from Cherry Hill Elementary when they received a call saying their house was on fire.

"We got here, and smoke's coming out the windows," he said.

The year has not been an easy one for the family. The Kuester's 9-year-old daughter died in October from complications of swine flu. Kuester said his daughter sometimes had seizures when she was ill, and she had a seizure when she was sick with the swine flu and suffocated. The tragedy only adds to the hardship for the five remaining children, ages 4 through 16.

"They're pretty distraught," he said.

Two of the Kuesters' children were sleeping in the front room of the home near Orem Boulevard on 800 South when the fire started around noon. Kuester said his 13- and 4-year-old daughters were the only people in the home at the time.

"They woke up and the front room was full of smoke, so they ran outside," he said.

The children ran next door to their grandparents' home and called for help, and a passerby called police at the same time. Orem fire Capt. Robbie Asbell said firefighters were just down the street at the time and responded very quickly, arriving to find heavy smoke and fire coming from the home.

Asbell said the fire began in a bedroom in the southwest corner of the home and spread throughout the top floor. Fire investigators are currently trying to determine what happened.

"We're not sure exactly what started the fire," he said.

The fire was extinguished at about 12:45 p.m., leaving behind about $125,000 in damage. Asbell said he was not sure whether the home could be restored, but there is heavy smoke and fire damage and burned trusses in the roof.

Holding his 4-year-old daughter in his arms, Kuester said his children who were in the home when the fire started were having a hard time with the incident.

"It took her awhile to start talking to me," he said of the 4-year-old.

Kuester said he does not know what happened to start the fire, but there may have been a problem with an electrical outlet. There was an outlet he had problems with in the past, but never issues serious enough to be concerned about, he said.

The American Red Cross will be placing the family in a hotel for a few days and providing financial assistance for clothing, said emergency services director Brett Cross. They also received immediate essentials such as shampoo, shaving cream and medications. Cross said the Red Cross also set the family up to meet with disaster mental health professionals in the area due to the family's hardships throughout the past year.